Roselle May Advincula

Project type: Ghostwriting Client: Forum Contributor for guides and commentaries Status: Published (www.gdprcommunity.com) Niche: Technology, Data Security Off-Facebook Activity: Users Can Now Give "Consent" Over Their Data Earlier this year, Facebook launched their Facebook Off-Activity tracker—a tool that allows you to check and manage how Facebook gathers your online activity. This update is Facebook fulfilling its promise of giving its users the right to clear their history from the platform, one they made after receiving a huge backlash in a 2018 scandal involving Cambridge Analytica. It was also within the same year when Facebook announced that they will be implementing the GDPR for their users around the globe. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acijNEErf-c) How Does Facebook Off-Activity Work? Facebook Off-Activity shows you which websites and apps have been forwarding your activities to Facebook, and the lists might surprise you or even embarrass you. It might also scare you, seeing how websites, even those you innocently opened once, can tell Facebook what you did. The tool offers a Clear History option, which almost works the same as clearing your browsing history but for Facebook to stop seeing your activities outside the platform, you have to tick off Future Off-Facebook Activity under the Manage Future Activity option. (https://www.facebook.com/off-facebook-activity) Relating to GDPR, does Off-Facebook Activity give its users the option of consent? "Despite how commonplace this activity is across the Internet, we believe it’s important to help people understand why they’re seeing the ads they see and to give them control over how their data is used, regardless of the services they use,” - Facebook Spokesman, Jay Nancarrow. (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/28/off-facebook-activity-page/) With consent being one of its key issues, GDPR protects each user’s right to control which of their data can be shared and for what purpose. Article 7 of the regulation explains further the bases and qualifications of a consent. In essence, Off-Facebook Activity allows its users to control or limit Facebook’s sights over their online activities outside the platform. But there are three players here: the user, the website/app and Facebook. While Off-Facebook Activity lets its users decide if they can be monitored or not, shouldn't the request for data processing also come from the sites that sends the information to Facebook?